Thomas P. Belkofer

Thomas P. Belkofer (2 June 1965-18 May 2010) was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the US Army who fought in the Afghanistan War. He was killed in action in a Taliban ambush on a NATO convoy in 2010, and his mother Sharon Belkofer was consoled by President Barack Obama after Thomas' passing.

Biography
Thomas P. Belkofer was born on 2 June 1965 in Toledo, Ohio in the United States, the son of Donald Belkofer, Jr. and Sharon O'Keefe. He was involved with football and wrestling at Rossford High School, from which he graduated in 1983. In 1992, he graduated from Bowling Green State University with a bachelor's degree in architectural and environment design technology, and e earned an MBA from Syracuse University in 2002. That year, he joined the US Army, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 2005, he was deployed to Afghanistan after serving on bases in the USA and Italy, and he was known to stay awake late at night to watch the Ohio State Buckeyes. On 18 May 2010, he was killed in a Taliban attack on a NATO convoy in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan at the age of 45, and he was posthumously awarded several medals. His mother was consoled by President Barack Obama himself, and she became an avid supporter of Obama and the US Democratic Party; he congratulated her when she won a seat on her school board. On 27 July 2016, she gave a moving speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and she introduced Obama at the convention.